


Changing with the Times

by klance_my_love



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, Langst, M/M, Mention of torture, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Platonic Relationships, Shatt, Slow Burn, descriptions of torture, first fic, klance, pre-season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 09:46:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16406063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klance_my_love/pseuds/klance_my_love
Summary: The world was spinning violently, and Lance was not happy. Of all things he planned on doing once he got to space, crashing on an unknown plant in a giant blue lion was not one them.Set pre-season 2, based on an alternative telling of what happened with the corrupted wormhole.





	1. Chapter One

The world was spinning violently, and Lance was not happy. Of all things he planned on doing once he got to space, crashing on an unknown plant in a giant blue lion was not one them. Hell, he hadn’t even thought it was possible.

His seatbelt was useless as Blue hurtled towards the unknown planet. He suddenly felt sympathy for Hunk and the amount of times he had to deal with Lance’s unnecessary barrel rolls in simulations. He was defiantly going to apologise when he saw him again, if he ever did. The ground was coming ever closer, so Lance made his decision; Blue was basically indestructible, but he was not. Popping open the emergency hatch he silently apologised to his lion and threw himself out of the cockpit.

He activated his boosters as he tried to slow his decent and found one side severely damaged. Seems about right he thought to himself as he crashed through the purple leaves of the alien vegetation.

As he woke up he tried to make sense of the upside-down world surrounding him. He was swinging lightly in the cool breeze whistling through the tightly packed tree trunks. Reaching around his waist he made a grab for his bayard, finding it gone. A quick search of the area found it on the ground 10m below him. Sighing, he started wriggling in attempts to loosen the grip the pink vine had on his feet.

The vines started to give, and he silently cheered thinking this might be his chance swing across to a longer vine, until the whole thing snapped, and he plunged towards the unforgiving ground. Once again, he slipped into unconsciousness. 

This time he woke to an upright world in an only mildly uncomfortable bed. Blinking, he tried to adjust to the brightly lit room to identify his surroundings. Quietly, he rolled out of the bed and set his feet on the cold ground. Frowning he glanced down, realising someone had removed his boots and armour. Looking around he found the room surprisingly bare apart from a short table and the lumpy bed he was on. 

Footsteps caused his head to snap towards the closed door. In fear he picked up a large object from the table ready to take down whoever was out there. As the door opened, Lance charged lifting the heavy object above his head screaming a battle cry. The person entering gasped and then… burst out laughing? Lance stopped, confused at how they could find this situation funny at all. 

“What? What’s so damn hilarious, huh?”, Lance said glaring.

“You’re-you’re about to kill me with-a-a-kids picture book.”, the stranger managed to squeak out around huffs of laughter. Lance slowly lowed his makeshift weapon and looked at it for the first time noticing the simplistic pictures across the front. Sighing he placed it against the wall and crossed his arms his face turning red in embarrassment.

“Well how was I to know that’s what it was, I can’t read whatever language its in.”, Lance complained. 

The unknown person started laughing even harder, bracing their arm against the door frame as they bent over, clutching their stomach. 

Sick of being laughed at Lance growled, “Who the hell are you anyway?”

Slowly the laughter stopped, and the alien stood up, sticking a hand out to shake.  
“The name’s Emrys, but please call me Em”, she said pleasantly, “and I’m assuming you’re Lance, the blue paladin of Voltron.” 

Lance smiled, happy to be recognised for once, and reached out to shake her hand as she stepped into the light. Lance found she was quite pretty with bright blue eyes and what seemed like millions of freckles dotting her face. She had short, dark brown hair and while she shorter than Lance she still stood much taller than most women back on Earth. However, her most defining features were the pointed ears and small teal marks under her eyes.

“You’re an Altean.”, he whispered in shock, “But Allura said that no-one else survived the attack by Zarkon.”

“Yeah, well she was wrong. Not everyone was planet side when Altea was destroyed, my ancestors were on a trade mission when they heard the news. Since then, all Alteans have hidden from the Galra by changing their features.”, with that Emrys transformed, rounding her ears and removing the markings, “See? It’s pretty easy.”

“So, what are you doing here Emrys? From what I saw while I was crashing this doesn’t seem like an Altean colony to me.”

Emrys’ expression darkened, and she abruptly turned away,” It doesn’t matter, let’s just get you back to your team ok?”

Baffled, Lance trailed after her taking in his surroundings. Another bare room, this time with two chairs and what looked like some sort of stove top or it’s space equivalent.

“Right, so where’s your space ship Lance?”

“She’s called Blue thank you very much and she’s not just a space ship, she’s sentient.”, he declared. 

“Sure, whatever you say mate.”

Lance shot a withering look at her back, but none the less followed her outside. He stopped in the doorway, shocked by the sheer amount of pink and purple the planet contained. It was overwhelming but, he thought to himself, it sure makes Blue stand out nicely. He could see his lion in not too far away entangled in vines looking worryingly still. 

“There she is, we have to go get her Emrys. Before any Galra see her.”, Lance said panicking. He glanced towards the dark blue sky, as if the Galra would swoop down any second. 

“Relax Lance, there’s no Galra around here. Why do you think I chose this planet?”, Emrys said rolling her eyes, “Besides don’t you want your armour and bayard first?”

“Oh yeah, um, about that. Did you undress me?”

“Well yeah, I’m the only one here but chill I’m a huge lesbian so you don’t have to worry”, Em called over her shoulder as she moved back inside.

“Oh thank god”


	2. Chapter Two

It was a full deca-phoeb before Voltron found any hint of Lance after the wormhole incident. Meanwhile, it took only two movements for all the other paladins to be found and rescued. Pidge and Hunk were found together on a small planet covered almost entirely by a desert. They had almost died of dehydration before Allura and Coran picked up their lions’ distress beacons. Shiro and Keith were lucky and landed on the Balmera, where Shay and her family healed Shiro and contacted the castle for them.

They searched and searched for Lance, but no one had seen him. Unable to form Voltron without the blue lion they began losing fights and were more often than not forced to retreat. None the less they still continued to try and help those with active distress beacons, even if in most cases all they did was annoy the Galra.

It was one of these missions when they noticed there was already an attack happening. Shiro had ordered Keith to land and find out who was attacking and why before Voltron entered the fight. Pidge decided it would be best to drop Keith off from her camouflaged lion just outside the Galra base.

Keith took a deep breath, activated his bayard and snuck into the compound. The first thing he noticed in the darknes of the emergency lighting was the sheer amount of Galra bodies on the floor. He turned on his comms to relay what he was seeing to the rest of the team.

“It looks like a large team must have attacked the base, judging by the amount of sentries that have been taken down.”, he whispered

“Roger Keith”, Shiro replied, “Any sign of the attackers?”

“Negative but the fighting sounds are concentrated in the next room.”

“Alright continue but don’t get involved unless you have to”, cautioned Shiro

Keith crept towards the sounds of battle remaining watchful of all directions. Edging into the room the first thing he saw was a dark haired woman standing in the middle of the room brandishing dual swords. She was surrounded by sentries and Galra alike and was cutting through their ranks with ease. Keith also could hear shots from somewhere around the room indicating at least one sniper hidden from view. Keith stopped at the edge of the room watching in awe as the woman defeated all of the remaining soldiers before turning towards Keith. She ran towards him preparing to attack before a familiar voice rang out form the shadows.

“Emrys stop!”

Keith sighed in relief when the woman lowered her weapons and turned towards the blue figure dropping from the rafters.

“Who is he then?”, the woman questioned, not even out of breath.

 

“He’s a friend, Em. Voltron finally found us.”, and with that the man stepped into the light to reveal the familiar face of the lost blue paladin.

~~~  
Keith looked towards Lance hardly believing that they had finally found him after all this time. The others were shouting in his ear begging to know why he went silent and if he was alright.

“Guys I’m OK, I’ll tell you what’s happening soon just, um, give me a sec.”, Keith stammered, shutting off his comms.

“Lance is that really you?”

“Yes, Keith but we need to move, so either go back to the team, or help us. Either choice stay out of our way”, Lance commanded before turning away and jogging through to the next room. Emrys quickly followed but not before shooting a dirty glare towards Keith.

Keith gaped at the empty spot where Lance had just stood. It was not quite the reunion he had planned. The sound of shots rang through the air galvanising Keith back to action. He began running after Lance while flipping the comms back on to bring Voltron back up to speed.

“I’m engaging in combat, there are two allies here to back me up. I’ll let you know when we are back out.”

“Keith can you really trust these people?”, Shiro asked uncertainly

“I trust at least one of them, you’ll see what I mean soon. Keith out”

Keith turned the corner to find Emrys and Lance had already cleared out the room. Lance glanced up at Keith when he entered giving him a brief nod.

“OK this is how we are going to do it Red Paladin”, Emrys started, “Lance and I will move down the corridors first, you will bring up the back. Stay quiet and alert, you understand?”

Keith nodded, frowning. This wasn’t what team Voltron had done in training exercises so why was Lance doing this. He shrugged to himself and followed the pair down the hall. He watched in fascination as Lance’s bayard changed from a sniper to a short rifle with a bayonet attached. He also noticed Emrys sheath her dual swords and replacing them with dual pistols. At each junction Emrys turned left and Lance right.

“Clear”, they said in unison and continued to the next junction.

This time, while Lance called clear, Emrys called three. Keith heard three bodies hit the floor before he even registered her firing. This pattern continued until they reached the main control room.

Lance moved to cover the far entrance, while Emrys pulled out a USB and plugged it into the machine. Keith watched in amazement as she effortlessly removed the defence mechanisms the Galra had installed. Shaking his head, Keith turned to Lance.

“Lance it’s so good to see you. We’ve all missed you so- “

“Keith shut up and cover the other exit.”, Lance snapped.

Keith stared at the other boy, puzzled, since when did Lance take guard duty seriously?

After five more tense doboshes, Emrys finally straightened up, growling in frustration.

“Nothing again, let’s go Lance.”

Lance sighed and lead the way back out of the now deserted compound. After exiting they were mobbed by jubilant natives thanking and praising the three people who had saved their species. Keith was shocked to see Lance trying to shy away from the crowd rather than enjoying the attention. Emrys, similarly, was trying to get avoid the celebrating group.

Turning away Keith noticed the other Paladins and their lions standing off in the distance looking in confusion towards the crowd. Keith escaped from the thankful inhabitants and ran over to the team.

“So, are you going to introduce us to your new best friends?”, Pidge teased.

Keith looked back towards Lance and smiled.

“Yes Pidge, although I think it will be more of a reunion.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always appreciated :)


	3. Chapter Three

Lance had been welcomed back to the castle with open arms with the other paladins overjoyed to finally seeing him again after so long. Emrys however was met with suspicion and hostility. As far as team Voltron was concerned she was the reason why Lance had been kept from them for so long. Even so they all agreed that she would be allowed to stay in the castle at least so they could keep an eye on her. She was given the spare room next to Lance’s at his insistence. 

After all the excitement of his return, Lance was exhausted. A deca-phoeb ago he would have relished in all the attention and hugs that he was given, but he just wasn’t that person anymore. Fighting a war on all Galra with only one ally tended to do that to you. 

Everyone had encouraged him to go to bed, after making him promise he tell them everything the next day. Lance had walked in an almost trance like state back to his sleeping quarters. Lance looked around his old room disturbed to find that everything was exactly where he left, like he was never gone at all. A knock on his door, pulled him from his musings. 

“Come in.” 

Lance looked up to see Emrys enter with an almost timid look on her face. She stood just a few steps in clutching a pillow to her chest.

“Hey Lance, I-I can’t sleep by myself. Is it cool if I sleep in here?”, she murmured eyes downcast.

“Yeah of course Em, you really think just cause we’re back with Voltron that would change?” 

She sighed in relief and flopped down on the bed. Lance quickly changed in the bathroom and slipped in beside her. The familiar sleeping arrangement caused both parties to rapidly fall asleep. 

~~~

Keith attempted to dry his sweat soaked hair with the small towel he grabbed. He had just finished another late-night training session and he was tired. He made his way back to his room when he spotted Emrys go into Lance’s room. Frowning he stood in the hall waiting for her to comeback out, after all she must have just been confused about how something worked right? He waited for 30 whole doboshes and she still didn’t exit the room. An unfamiliar feeling settled in Keith’s stomach and pushed him forwards to knock on Lance’s door. Before he could even knock the door silently slid open revealing both Lance and Emrys curled up together in bed. They clinging to each other like their life depended on it, faces scrunched up as if in pain. 

Keith hurriedly backed away from the sight of them, all but running back to his room. He showered and changed before sagging into his own bed but try as he might he couldn’t sleep. His thoughts just kept drifting back to what he just saw and for some reason this bothered him. It bothered him a lot. 

~~~ 

The screeching of alarms jolted Keith awake from his restless sleep. He jumped from his bed tugging his clothes off and replacing them with his red armour. Snatching his helmet from his desk he sprinted out of his room and down to the bridge. Along the way Pidge and Hunk appeared beside him also fully dressed in their armour. Running through the door of the bridge they all slid to a sudden stop, staring in shock to find Lance and Emrys discussing combat plans with Shiro and Allura. 

“What the hell!”, exclaimed Pidge, “Since when are you here before us Lance?”

Lance nodding briefly at Emrys and Shiro, finishing their conversation, before turning to face the bewildered paladins. 

“Emrys and I have been up for vargas. We were the ones that notified Allura of the nearby distress beacon.” He said curtly before reengaging in discussion with Shiro.

Gaping at Lance’s back, Hunk turned to Coran.

“There’s no way that’s true, is there?”, he questioned

“It’s true my boy, Lance and Emrys were training when the heard the distress signal.”, Coran explained, “It was lucky they were awake because we would have moved out of range before anyone else noticed it.”

Hunk twisted back to Pidge and Keith, shaking his head. Since when did Lance ever take any of this seriously, he thought, I mean come on he was the goofball of the team. 

Allura’s voice rang out, calling for them to sit down and pay attention, distracting Hunk from his thoughts. 

“Alright Paladins this is the plan; Hunk and Pidge you will remain in the air giving cover fire while the ground team clears the Galra base. The ground team will be Shiro, Keith and Lance. Everyone understand?”

“All due respect Princess,”, Lance counted, “But I’m not going in without Emrys. She and I work best together, and you would be a fool to leave a valuable asset behind on a mission like this.”

“Lance you are not the leader here, I will not let some unknown person fight alongside Voltron and that’s final”, Allura snapped out.

Lance stood calmly, “Then I believe the ground team has just lost a member, I will not go into battle without Emrys. I trust her more than anyone else here. Good luck on the mission team Voltron.”

Lance strode out the door, grabbing Emrys along the way, leaving the fuming Princess behind. 

Shiro stared after him, before slowly turning to the Altean, “Allura, I believe we should send them both.” He held up his hand to stop the princess’ outburst, “If the two of them have survived this long together they must be good. Keith you saw them fighting, will they be able to hold their own?”

Keith nodded, “I’ve never seen two people so in sync before, they are probably better fighters than any of us alone. I say send them in.”

Allura looked between the two men, frustration still evident on her face, “Fine,” she hissed, “But don’t come crying to me when she leaves you for dead.”

Shiro stood, “Alright team, you know your roles. Let’s give them hell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank for reading guys, any feedback or comments is greatly appreciated :D


	4. Chapter Four

“Lets split up”

“What the hell Shiro why would we split up?” Lance demanded

“There’s two different paths to the control centre, if we go both ways we can cover more ground and ensure no-one sneaks up on us.”

Lance pouted, as much as he hated the idea of being split up he understood it was necessary. 

“OK come on Emrys.” He said turning towards the right-hand corridor.

“Ah actually”, Shiro replied, “Emrys will come with me, Allura still doesn’t trust her so I think it’s better for all of us if she sticks with me.”

“Fine whatever.” Lance hissed, before clasping hands with the Emrys, “See you on the other side.” 

Keith and Lance had made it to the control centre first after finding little to no opposition along their pathway. Covering both entries, they waited for the others to join them. After 5 doboshes Lance started fidgeting, after 10 he began nervously pacing. Finally, after 20 doboshes he ran towards the left-hand corridor. Maybe they got lost he thought or they… no, he forced himself not to think of any other possibilities. 

“Lance what the hell are you doing?”, Keith shouted after him. Getting no response, he sighed and sprinted after the blue paladin. 

Lance was panicking, his eyes were frantic in their searching and short puffs of breath were escaping from his lungs. The hallway was eerily quiet with only his footsteps echoing off the metal walls. Sliding around a corner his radio crackled on, 

“Lance…Keith…respond…Haggar…here…Emrys is wounded…repeat…wounded”

Lance began sprinting even fasting, heat pounding and barely drawing breath as he ran towards the doorway at the end of the hall. It had been jammed open with a sentry’s rifle and through the gap he could see flashes of purple light. Slamming his shoulder into the gap he forced the doors open and slipped into room, eyes widening in horror as he took in the scene before him. 

Haggar and her clones had Shiro surrounded as he desperately fought against her magic. He was panting hard, sweat dripping down his face as his movements became sluggish with Haggar’s attacks just missing him each time. The worst part was Emrys’ slumped form lying perfectly still at Shiro’s feet. Her pale skin was spattered red and her eyes were unfocused. Screaming Lance launched himself at the closest Haggar, determined to rip her apart with his bare hands. Shocked at a new enemy her illusion faulted, revealing her true self off to the right of Shiro. Activating his bayard, Lance fired off three clustered shots, each within half a second of each other. Haggar growled in frustration before disappearing with a bright flash of purple.

Shiro collapsed to the floor next to Emrys, his eyes slipping closed in exhaustion. Lance turned back to Emrys grasping at her wrist, tears falling freely down his face as searched for a pulse. 

“No, no, no. You can’t do this Em, come on wake up.”, he sobbed.

Her pulse fluttered weakly beneath his finger tips and hope surged through his heart. Keith burst through the door behind him, drawing a sharp breath seeing both Shiro and Emrys crumpled on the floor. Lance scooped Emrys into his arms, motioning for Keith to help Shiro. Emrys opened her eyes, blinking rapidly, looking down at her blood-soaked clothing she laughed weakly. 

“Lance, you're here, you're ok." She reached up gently caressing his face, "I got to tell you something before I go.”

“No no no, you're fine, you're fine, we, we are going to get you back to the castle, Coran going to help you’ll be fine, you'll be fine please, just please Em,” Lance cried .

“Just in case though Lance I need you to know, I-I love you”, she said softly, smiling up at the Cuban boy. 

Lance let a short bark of laughter, "I love you too Em."

Emrys’ eyes closed again, a small smile gracing her lips as her breaths became short and erratic. 

Terror stricken Lance flipped his comms on, “Pidge, this is Lance, we need evac now. Tell Coran to rig up a cyro-pod now, Emrys is seriously injured.” 

“Alright I’m on my way to you now, what species settings should he calibrate it to?”

Lance looked down at Emrys, noticing her ears shifting to her natural pointed form and teal splashes appearing under her eyes again. 

“Altean, set it to Altean.”

~~~

Even two vargas later, Lance still couldn’t stop remembering the sticky feeling of Emrys’ blood covering his arms. His armour was ruined, the dried blood flaking off of most sections. Coran had done his job and Em was healing but now Lance had to deal with all the questions the others were shooting his way. 

“Lance are you even listening?”, Allura snapped at him.

He looked up towards the expectant faces around the dining table, realising there was no way to escape this. 

“OK where do you want me to start?”

“The beginning, when and how did you meet her and why didn’t you tell us she was an Altean?”, Allura demanded.

“Fine, she found me straight after Blue crashed due to the corrupted wormhole. She offered her home to me while Blue rebooted and recharged and told me why she was alone and apart from the Altean colony.”, he began, “She told me she was looking for information on a Galra prisoner, another Altean. In return for helping me I agreed to help her on her mission. I figured that we could kill two birds with one stone by taking down Galra bases. While saving civilians oppressed by the Galra, Emrys would get information and maybe we could get a message sent out to Voltron seeing as Blue’s equipment couldn’t transmit far enough.”

Lance’s expression shifted for a moment to anger, thinking of how Voltron found them by accident. Almost as if they weren’t searching for him at all. Schooling his facial features back to normal he continued.

“We liberated over 25 planets this past deca-phoeb but none of them had information we needed. That’s why we were attacking that high-level base you found us at. We thought they would have more information.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell us she was Altean.” Allura spat.

“The Galra all believe that there are only two remaining Alteans, you and Coran. We wanted to keep it that way, hence why Em hides her markings. We didn’t tell you because we know from experience the less you know or seem to know the less interested the Galra are in you.”

Frowning, Keith spoke up “What do you mean you know from experience?”

Lance adverted his gaze and hesitated before explaining.

“One-night Em and I were sleeping in a clearing, on what we thought was an unoccupied planet. The Galra snuck in and took us in our sleep as prisoners. We were tortured until they believed the lie that we knew nothing and were nobody. After that they left us for dead on an abandoned moon. We were lucky Blue hadn’t been found and rescued us.” he said quietly before standing up

“Now are there any more questions? I want to check on Emrys.”

The others stared at him in silence, too shocked to do anything. Taking this as an excuse to leave, Lance stood and strode out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again I appreciate any and all feedback. Have a great week guys


	5. Chapter Five

Lance sat in the infirmary silently, eyes cast downwards listening to the quiet beeps of the cryo-pod. He had been there for nearly five vargas now. Hunk had sat with him for a while trying to strike up any sort of conversation but even the patient yellow paladin gave up, leaving the Cuban to watch over his friend.

Emrys looked at peace, her face bathed in soft blue light. Both Lance and Emrys were only 19 deca-phoebs old and yet they already showed signs of old age and stress. It appeared subtly on both of them, frown lines forming across their brows and dark circles like bruises under their eyes. Try as he might Lance could not ignore these signs, signs of the time spent apart from friends, family fighting an impossible war. The evidence of their past deca-phoeb was more obvious in the scars littering their bodies, with no access to cryo-pods, each injury stayed with them now and most likely forever. The blue paladin ever aware of the differences stacking up between him and the other paladins who, as far as Lance knew, never got any scarring from their battles. 

Keith stepped into the med bay, the blue paladin oblivious, he opened his mouth to speak but a soft click pulled Lance from his musings and he dived forward to catch the falling woman. Before she had even opened her eyes, Emrys had pushed herself off of the Cuban, her hand reaching round to grab her swords, from their usual position on her back. 

Keith watched in the doorway as Lance spoke, hands gently reaching towards the Altean, “Hey, hey easy, Em, you’re alright, you’ve just woken up in the castle of lions. No-one is here to hurt you.” 

Slowly Emrys stopped grabbing for her weapons, the tension draining from her limbs, exhaustion taking over. Lance caught her slumping form and steadied her a strong arm around her waist murmuring reassurances, as Emrys rested her head on his shoulder. Keith stumbled back and down the hallway to his room, a sharp pain spreading across his chest. The red paladin collapsed against the wall of his room, gasping for air. What was happening to him, was he sick? injured? He hadn’t felt this way since Lance first disappeared.

~~~~~~   
“What do you mean you can’t find him!”

Shiro sighed and massaged his temples, “Keith I need you to calm down please we are doing our best.”

“Your best? It’s been almost a full phoeb since we saw Lance, we have to find him Shiro.”, Keith growled, pacing up and down the control room.

Allura spoke up, “Keith we know it’s important we find Lance but right now we need to focus on defeating Zarkon and ending this war for good.” 

Keith rounded on the princess, eyes blazing, “Are you suggesting we give up on him? We need him!”

“I know Keith, but he is one person we are wasting time on when we could be saving thousands!”, Allura took a deep breath and continued, “Lance understood that and there is no way he would want us to put him over the universe.”

The red paladin faulted, he could see the pain in the Alteans eyes, they were all missing Lance. 

Keith huffed before conceding, “Fine but we have to keep looking ok?”  
Shiro stood and rested a hand on his younger brothers’ shoulder, “Of course.”

~~~~~~  
The bots went toppling one after another, new ones would fall from the ceiling to take their place, but they too were easily dispatched. Keith decapitated the last bot with a growl and called the training sequence off, deactivating his bayard. He could feel the stain in his muscles and the sweat running down his neck. He glanced towards the clock, he would be expected at breakfast in three vargas, but for now he had time for more training. 

“Computer start training sequence 27”. Keith drew his bayard again the weight of his sword familiar in his hands. 

“Starting in 3…2…1-“ 

“Stop sequence”

Keith whipped around to see Shiro, arms crossed a frown on the older man’s face, “What are you doing?” Keith hissed, “I’m trying to train.”

“Enough Keith you’ve been like this for phoebs now, you don’t sleep, you barely eat all you do train every hour of every day.”

“So? I need to, I need to be ready!” Keith shouted

Shiro stormed forwards, “For what Keith what could you possibly training for?!”

“TO GET LANCE BACK!” 

Keith snapped his jaw closed and moved to storm past Shiro. The black paladin pulled the smaller man into a hug and after a few moments Keith relaxed into it, wrapping his arms around the taller man. 

“We all miss him, and that’s never going to change, but Keith we haven’t had any sign of him from any of the planets or swap moons we have been on.”

Keith pushed himself away from his brother, “What are you trying to say?”

Shiro shook his head, “I’m saying that maybe there is a reason we haven’t heard anything, and I think you know this too.”

Keith stepped back, and sniffed, “Yeah I know but if there is even a chance he’s out there I have to try.”

“Just try not train yourself to death in the meantime please.” Shiro said with a smile, “Now let’s go eat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back after like 5 months. I know I said I would update regularly but uni really messed that up so my bad. Anyway it will be hella irregular posting from here on out but I'm going to try my best to actually finish this fic at some point. <3 (side note I obviously don't have anyone else proof reading so if u see a mistake feel free to point it out)


	6. Chapter Six

“The mission to Benoxus is going to be difficult paladins,” Allura started, “Mostly due to the sheer amount of Galra occupying this planet, too many for us to take on ourselves, not mention they’re spread out across 3 different bases.”

“So, what’s the plan Princess, cause I’m really not liking these odds.”, Pidge said not even looking up from her computer, “I can’t see anyway that we could take all three down with out someone calling for reinforcements.” 

“I think the key is convincing the civilians to fight with us, with the extra numbers we could have two of us leading each assault and attack all the bases at once.” Allura grimaced looking over her notes, “The problem is this planets people are paranoid and don’t trust outsiders easily so convincing them will take time and even then they may not help.”

Shiro stepped past the younger paladins to stand next to Allura, “That’s why we are going planet side to meet with the civilians king today, so I need you all to put on your best diplomatic faces we must convince them.”

Keith frowned, “Why are we so desperate to take back this planet then if the people aren’t?”

Allura spoke up again, “We know a higher-ranking officer is stationed on Benoxus and we think he has information on how to defeat Zarkon and his witch, but we don’t know which base he is on. Hence why we need to attack all of them at once to stop him escaping.”

The paladins spent another varga coming up with a pitch to win over the Benoxi peoples, before they were finally ready. Hunk noticed however that during most of the planning Lance and Emrys appeared to be withdrawn from the main group, instead have a whispered conversation. The yellow paladin strained to hear anything, picking up only a few scattered words.  
“Access… prisoner records…need to”  
“I know …don’t…want others…see that.”  
“…trust me… to get…information”  
Hunk frowned confused of what to make of it, he had never known Lance to be secretive, but then again, he hadn’t seen his friend in almost a deca-phoeb, who knows how he’s changed past the addition of new scars. He shook his head, no need to worry about it now, he doubted either of the pair would try and ruin the mission. Maybe he would bring it up with Shiro or Coran later, but now he needed to focus, he had already missed too much of the mission brief.

~~~ 

The descent to the planet was quick, each paladin taking their own lion, as well as Emrys with Lance and Allura with Shiro. Despite this being a purely diplomatic talk, everyone was dressed for combat Emrys included. She was wearing a spare set of blue paladin armor just like when the team was first reunited. 

As soon as they touched down the paladins were welcomed by a small party of Benoxi, who towered over the humans and Alteans by well over two feet. They led the paladins down a small path through the vegetation and into a large building decorated with ornate carvings and a softly glowing material. Inside, they found, was the throne room and waiting almost impatiently was the King of this planet. Along the walls stood more civilians silently watching their procession, judging their every move. Allura stood with Shiro at the front, followed by Keith a step behind and Hunk and Pidge another step behind him. Lance and Emrys however, stood much further apart from the group, standing in the deep shadows in the very back of the room. 

Allura gave a small bow before speaking, “King Desatov thank you for agreeing to meet with us it is an honour to-“

“Enough Princess Allura, I have not desire for flattery. State the reason you have come.”

She swallowed her retort and instead gave a friendly smile, “We have come to ask for your help, to drive the Galra off of your planet for good, so you may live in freedom.”

“And why would we risk our lives to do that? The Galra here appear indifferent to us, they have not enslaved us nor killed us, so why would we risk that Princess, especially with the rumours we have heard. Apparently, Voltron has been losing far more than they have won in the past deca-phoeb how can be sure you could even beat the Galra, hmm?”, the King said snidely.

Allura stepped forward, frustration evident in her clenched fists and creased brow but before she could say anything, Desatov held a hand up halting the Princess as a female Benoxi stepped up to the throne and whispered in the king’s ear. Instantly the paladins knew something had changed, the king had stood up, his eyes searching through the crowd almost desperately. He stood, pointing towards the back corner, “You two outsiders step forward let me see your faces.”

Lance glanced at his companion and grimaced before complying, Emrys following a second after. Around them the Benoxi people erupted into excited whispers, but the king quickly silenced them. 

“The Blue Warriors,” Desatov said in awe, collapsing into his throne, “I had hoped that one day I might meet you, to thank you, I owe you two everything.”

The king beckoned a young Benoxi up to him, the same that had whispered in his ear before. 

“My only child was on planet Calypsa when it was enslaved by the Galra. I thought her dead, but she returned not five deca-phoebs ago claiming two people alone drove the invaders off. I believed it to be impossible but since her return we have received over a dozen reports of the Blue Warriors reclaiming planets freedom.”

The king left his throne and descended to Voltrons’ level, enveloping Emrys and Lance in a bone crushing hug. “I cannot thank you enough for bringing her back to me.”

Lance spoke, voice muffled by the king’s chest, “We were more than happy to help on Calypsa just like we are to help your planet.”

Desatov released them nodding thoughtfully as the blue clad paladins straightened themselves out.

Emrys cleared her throat, “You know what we are capable of, so you know there is no risk of us losing this battle. Your people will be safe.” 

“You are quite right warriors,” the Benoxi King faced the rest of the shocked paladins, “We shall join your fight, accompany us in to feast in celebration and tell us our part.”

The princess snapped her mouth shut, a diplomatic smile replacing it as she followed the King who had one arm across both Lance and Emrys’s shoulders.  
The other paladins took a few more seconds to compose themselves before jogging to catch up with the small party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading <3


	7. Chapter Seven

After the feast, forty-five Benoxi volunteered to help Voltron take over the Galra bases. They were split into three groups with two paladins leading each: Lance and Emrys had the closest base, Pidge and Shiro had the middle base and Hunk and Keith the furthest base.

The three teams travelled by foot via the city’s winding back streets, overpowering Galra lookouts along the way. The groups encounter little issues, taking the sentry’s by surprise dispatching them quickly and quietly. Within two vargas each base had been secured with no ally deaths and minimal injuries. 

Allura, accompanied by Benoxi healers set up a make shift med bay in the middle base. The princess flitted through the wounded, winding bandages and offering sedatives. The Altean princess had always preferred healing to fighting, as much as she wanted to follow after her father and be a fearsome warrior she found herself mimicking her mother. Soft spoken words of comfort, gentle touches and an understanding smile like Melenor did for all who sought her help. While she may not have been a ground fighter like Alfor she still inherited his strategic mind and ability to see the bigger picture. She had always prided herself in understanding people’s motives but as she looked right to Emrys and Lance entering with the final group she frowned. Allura could not understand this new Lance, both he and the new Altean were guarded, they had barely revealed anything about their past deca-phoeb and that worried her. The princesses walked toward Lance’s group to check for damage to the civilians, she went to bypass Emrys, but her hand shot out stopping Allura. 

“Did we capture the officer?” Emrys said bluntly.

Allura nodded, “Hunk and Keith found him.”

“Where is he?”, Emrys’ grip tightened, causing Allura to gasp in pain.  
Realising what was happening the Altean let go, backing off before rushing away.

Allura watched her disappear in the crowd, shocked at her actions.

“I’m sorry Allura.” Lance started, “She has been looking for her friend for so long without finding anything, she- she just needs to catch a break, you know, she didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Allura rubbed her wrist, sighing, “I understand Lance, but it doesn’t make what she did ok.”

“I know, she’ll be back to apologise soon trust me.” The blue paladin said before following after his companion. 

Allura watched Lance as he pushed past the Benoxi.  
“I’m not sure if I do and that’s the problem,” she muttered to herself before turning back to the wounded. 

~~~ 

After another celebration on Benoxus, the paladins returned to the castle, locking the prisoner in one of the containment fields on the lower levels. The Galra officer showed no real resistance to the treatment but so far had refused to answer any questions simply repeating, “Victory or Death” over and over. After two vargas the paladins gave up and gathered in the control room.

Keith was pacing, occasionally stopping to discuss an idea with Shiro and Allura before starting again. Pidge and Hunk were huddled around her computer looking through the data they had recovered from the bases, looking for anything that they could use. Coran was muttering thoughts to himself while twisting his mustache. Emrys and Lance were silent observing the others, finally after nearly 20 doboshes Lance spoke up, “The solution is simple isn’t? If he won’t talk, we make him talk”

Shiro responded warily, “What do you mean?”

Lance shrugged, “You know what I mean Shiro, torture.” 

Everyone stopped and stared at the blue paladin in horror. 

“Why would you even suggest that Lance?” Pidge confused. “Why would we ever even consider doing that?”

Emrys answered for him, “It gets results and right now we have nothing to show for our efforts. I mean come on how long have you been after Zarkon?” her hands flying in agitated movement, “And have you got any closer to defeating him or even finding where he is? No.” 

He actions were becoming more frantic as she continued, “And why shouldn’t we anyway, he’s a horrible person and has killed hundreds of people if not worse. If we can break him we could save millions of people, what is one person? One Person?!”

“We would be no better than Zarkon if we did!” Allura responded, fury burning in her eyes.

“Well maybe that’s the problem princess, maybe that’s why Altea was-.”

Lance grabbed Emrys’ wrist pulling her back and stopping her from finishing her sentence. She attempted to escape from him, but Lance’s grip remained strong.   
He leaned towards her, so the others couldn’t hear, “Later Em.” 

She huffed in frustration as Lance let her go but made no further comments. 

Allura also stepped back, “Under no circumstances will we resort to that method, do you understand?”

Emrys nodded stiffly, staying silent. 

“It was a silly suggestion ‘Lura, there’s no way I thought we would actually go through with it, I’m sorry really.” Lance said almost pleadingly. 

Allura looked toward Shiro, who gave a small nod. He was taken aback by how quickly this all got out of hand, but he trusted Lance to do the right thing, to listen to Allura. 

The princess dismissed the group shortly after, still not having any idea how to get the information they needed. Everyone trailed out of the room towards their respective beds, chatting quietly with each other.

Allura braced her arms on the control panel, sighing heavily. Everything was meant to go back to usual since Lance was back, yet things seem to be falling apart. What was she going to do?

“Princess Allura?”

Allura spun around to find an almost sheepish looking Emrys standing before her.

“What do you want?” she said coldly.

Emrys swallowed, unable to make eye contact, “Look I-I just wanted to say sorry for just then and earlier. I’ve been really worked up recently and I took it out on you and that’s not acceptable.” She looked up towards the princess hopefully, “I didn’t really mean anything I said, and I hope… I hope you can give me another chance.”

Allura remained silent for a moment, debating the other’s words. Finally, she stepped forward placing a hand on her shoulder, “Of course, now we better head to bed we have a big day tomorrow.”

They headed down the corridor, Allura dropping Emrys off at her room before she too went to bed. Emrys sent her off with a small wave and a cheerful smile. 

“Is she gone?”

The smile fell from the Alteans’ face as she turned to Lance, “She’s gone, but are you sure about this?”

Lance nodded grimly, “Time to have a chat with our guest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy, I appreciate any kudos or feedback <3


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning - Graphic description of torture  
> (breaking of bones)

Keith was exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep. His body was begging him to stop training, to just go to bed, to relax after the assault on the Galra bases, but his mind was going a million miles per hour, going over the attack again and again. Hunk and Keith had been split up while fighting through the base, and Keith had been surrounded by Galra with no hope of escaping when one of the soldiers had turned on his allies, slicing through them with a silver blade which seemingly grew in his hand. Keith had watched in awe as the man fought, not even thinking of helping. When the last enemy fell the Galra turned to Keith and spoke, “What are you doing so far from Earth Krolia-son?”  
“What did you just call me, and how do you know of Earth?” Keith had replied gripping his bayard tighter.  
The Galra man tilted is head as if in confusion, “You carry our weapon and yet you know not who we are?”, he pointed toward the knife strapped to Keith’s back.  
Keith’s eyes had widened, “You know what this is?”, he said pulling the knife, “You have to tell me please, I need to kn- “  
“KEITH! where are you!” Hunks voice cut through on the comms, “We are pinned down near the control room, we need you!”  
The Galra officer shook his head, “There’s is no time.” With that he disappeared down a nearby corridor.  
Keith had growled in frustration, the chance for some answers slipping from grasp.  
“KEITH!”, Hunk called again galvanising the red paladin into action. 

The last training bot fell to the floor and Keith called off the next training sequence. He grabbed his water and towel, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He sighed, no point staying here any longer, he could barely lift his bayard anymore. He exited the training room, the door sliding quietly shut behind him and he headed toward his room but stopped when he heard footsteps heading toward him. Thinking Shiro was coming to lecture him about training to much again, he ducked into a nearby storage room. The footsteps got louder, voices joining in, “Lance are you sure it’s this way?”

Even from inside the cupboard Keith could tell Lance was rolling his eyes and he smiled at the thought.

“Yes Em, now come on I don’t really want Shiro or Allura catching us."

Keith’s grin dropped, where were they going that they didn’t want anyone to know. Curious Keith silently stepped out and followed them down the twisting corridors, all thought of rest gone from his mind. He shadowed them, desperately trying to get his aching muscles to match their hurried pace but he couldn’t do it, he lost them after a couple of minutes. Looking around the intersection he tried to listen for any sounds of the pair, but the hum of the engines covered anything. He turned to go to bed, but realised dejectedly he was completely lost, why the hell was the castle this big. Picking a hallway at random he began walking, hoping eventually he would find some where he recognised. He had been walking for a while when his ears picked up a sound coming from further down the hall. Picking up his pace Keith moved closer to where he thought he heard the noise. There it was again! It sounded like someone screaming in pain. The red paladin’s blood went cold, Lance was down here.

Breaking out in a sprint he followed the sound of screaming. He stopped as he recognised the entrance to the holding cells, but the screams pushed him forward. He burst through the doors just in time to watch the Galra’s forearm snap under the weight of a Lance’s boot. Keith was frozen in shook as he watched Emrys grab the officers chin, pulling his head up to face her, the Galra language sounding sharp coming from her mouth. The officer spat in her face, “Victory or Death, you Altean bitch.” She dropped the man’s head and nodded at Lance. The blue paladin increased the pressure on the crushed bones, forcing a string of what Keith assumed were curses to be ripped from the Galra’s mouth.  
Lance went to turn to Emrys, but flicker of movement caught his attention, he snapped his head up, eyes boring into Keith’s, but red paladin saw none of the kind-hearted boy he thought he knew, instead a war hardened solider met his eyes. Keith rushed forward, planning to pull the blue paladin away from the broken man but the Altean was suddenly in his face, pushing him back.

“Get off of me, let go!”, he said struggling but Emrys ignored him, addressing Lance.

“Can you still continue, Lance?”  
Lance hesitated, he had seen the horror in Keith’s eyes, seen the betrayal as well, but nothing could change that now, “Yes just keep him back.”

Emrys tighten her hold on the red paladin, her Altean heritage giving her the strength to stop him struggling all together.  
“Lance please you don’t have to do this, there are other ways, please just stop.” Keith pleaded.

Lance blocked out the rest of the world, until all that was left was him and the Galra officer. He worked methodically, ask a question, receive defiance, break a bone, ask again, receive a weaker answer of defiance, break another bone and again and again. Finally, after nearly another hour of work, the officer relented. 

“Where are the prisoners kept?” Lance said in the harsh Galran language.

The Galra mumbled an answer to quiet to hear. Lance pulled him up by his shattered arm, “Speak up, I couldn’t hear you.”

“ALGAO!” he shouted hoarsely, “All slaves considered important to the Emperor or his witch are on planet Algao.”

Lance released the officer gently and crouched down to his level, “Very good but we have one last question, where can we find Zarkon and Haggar?”

The prisoner shakily drew a breath into his lungs, “The Em-The Emperor docks his ship on the outskirts of sector 248 where it intersects with the Olarian system. The witch goes where he does.”

Lance stood, nodding thoughtfully, “Thank you for your co-operation.” He reached into a compartment in his armor and pulled out pain suppressors and bandages, dropping them on the floor next to the officer, who grabbed them with his uninjured arm. The blue paladin stepped out of the cell, the door closing behind him. He finally looked at Emrys and Keith, the latter red faced and breathing heavily. Lance swallowed nervously, he hadn’t thought about what would happen afterwards. A quick nod to the Altean had him released. Keith pushed away from her but made no other move to speak or act. 

Emrys walked up to Lance and gently placed a hand on his face, “Are you ok?”

The blue paladin nodded, cupping the Altean’s hand in his before pulling it off and addressing Keith solemnly.

“It had to be done, I didn’t have a choice”

“You always have a choice Lance.” His voice croaky from shouting.

Lance gave a sad smile, “You wouldn’t understand Keith, you never have a choice in war.”

Emrys grabbed Lances arm pulling him towards the door, “Lets brief the rest of the team.” 

“Your going to tell everyone else?”, Keith said in shock trailing behind them, “But they’ll never trust you again, you’ll forever be an outcast here.” 

Lance seemed to ignore him before he whispered so quietly Keith almost didn’t catch it, “I already was.”  
~~~  
“What do you mean you know where Zarkon is Lance?”

“I talked to the prisoner Allura, and he told me his location”, Lance replied calmly.

Allura through her hands up in the air, “And what he just gave this information up freely? We have been trying to get information out of him for almost 18hrs and he just tells you?”

Keith watched as Lance glanced nervously around the room, swallowing thickly. Emrys grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently, giving the blue paladin the courage to speak up. 

He squared his jaw, looking Allura directly in the eyes, “We had to torture him to get this information.”

The room became deathly silent the paladins watched Allura’s fury spill onto her face, contorting it into a snarl, “You what?”

“You heard him”, Emrys said curtly. 

Allura turned on the other Altean, “You quiznacking bitch, you forced him to do this didn’t you? What do you have over him, huh? To make him like this, to turn him into a monster like you? TELL ME!” she roared in her face. 

“I was not the one who forced him into this war, that was you.” Emrys replied, stabbing a finger at the princess, “You’re the one who went into hiding while her people were massacred, you’re the one who watches on the sidelines as others die in battle.” She stepped forward pushing Allura back, “You were the one who slept for 10,000 years while my ancestors, were hunted and tortured for sport! Where were you when my family was killed in their sleep by Galra? Where were you when my friends were stolen away as playthings for the Galra? That’s right you were safe and sound in this castle! And did you care when you enlisted four teenagers to your war, did you even care that any day they could be murdered, and their family would never know? Of course not, you barely even looked for Lance when he disappeared. All you care about is keeping your hands clean of blood in this endless conflict!” 

She finished breathlessly, glaring down at the Altean princess, “So don’t you dare blame me for this.”

Shiro stepped in between the two Altean woman, “Lets just all back up ok.” Emrys walked stiffly back to where Lance stood, while Coran pulled Allura away, an arm laying protectively across her shoulders. 

Shiro cleared his throat, “Lance, Emrys I don’t condone what you did at all, and frankly I am horrified you would do this especially behind our backs, but,” he hesitated glancing at the shaken princess, “you did give us vital information and would stupid not to use it.”  
He nodded to Pidge pulling her out of her shock stupor, and she began typing rapidly on her tablet pulling up the two locations given by the Galra. 

“Here is planet Algao where the prisoners are being kept,” she pointed a hologram of a small desert planet, surrounded by Galra cruisers, “And here is where the Olarian System intersects with sector 248. This is supposedly were Zarkon sits when he’s not destroying planets.”

She squinted at the glitching hologram, “Weird, there must be some sort of interference, I can’t get a clear image of those co-ordinates.”

“It’s all good Pidge this is enough for now.” Shiro said patting the girl on the shoulder. “I believe we should go scout out Zarkon’s location, it’s much closer to us now and if we take him out it should be easy to rescue the prisoners afterwards.”

“Shiro-“, Emrys began but Lance cut her off.

“I think we should release the prisoners first, they could be beneficial in taking down Zarkon.” 

Shiro shook his head, “Our main goal is stopping Zarkon and Haggar.”

“I agree with Lance.”

Shiro looked at the red paladin in confusion. Keith spoke again “He’s right we need all the help we can get, especially if we have no idea what we are going up against.” He looked down at the knife he was twisting in his hands, “They could be fighters or have information we could use.”

“No, WE need to stop Zarkon once and for all that will cause the Galra Empire to collapse.” Allura said definitively. She faced down Lance and Emrys, “You two can do what ever you want but I can’t have you be part of Voltron anymore.”

The paladins broke out in a chorus of cries of confusion and anger. 

“That’s my final decision and I don’t want to hear any thing more about it, we will drop you off tomorrow on the Balmera with an Altean pod. After that I never want to see you two again.”

With that Allura spun on her heel, her dress flowing behind her and stalked out of the control room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it all going to shit lol  
> btw this chapter is double the length of my usual ones i just couldn't stop typing lol  
> Have a great week :)


	9. Chapter Nine

Coran strode down the halls, humming an old Altean lullaby his mother would sing to calm him down when he was younger. Even now as anxious as he was it still helped even if it brought waves of sadness along with the peace.   
He reached the yellow lion’s hanger first stepping inside. Hunk wasn’t here yet as it was 0500, far too early for him to be up and tinkering or improving his lion. Coran smiled fondly as he inspected the lion, her condition was amazing, every joint greased to perfection and every nut and bolt tightened. Typing quickly on the tech pad he carried, he exited the hanger and moved toward the green lion.   
The green lion was also alone with its pilot only just crashing into bed a mere four vargas ago. The green lion was also well looked after, maybe not as well as the yellow, but Coran could see all the technological improvements Pidge was working on scattered around the hanger. Coran made a quick note to talk to the green paladin about cleaning up after herself.  
The Altean arrived at the black lion, and his smile dropped as memories came flooding back. Of Zarkon betrayal, of Alfor’s blood streaked clothes as he pushed Coran and Allura towards the cryopods, the final glimpse of Melenor and of waking up 10,000 years later knowing that there was nothing he could do to save them.   
He dropped his head and exited the hanger quickly. At least, he thought, he had Allura, even of she was thinking rashly recently. It was his job as adviser to help guide the princess, but it seemed that these days she was so desperate to end this war she wouldn’t listen to reason, so the next best thing he could do is support her even if he felt she was wrong. Shaking his head of these thoughts he made his way into the red lion’s hanger. He stopped in confusion the red lion was gone. He frowned, it wasn’t unusual for Keith to take red out to practice but never this early in the morning.   
He exited and arrived at the last hanger, the Blue lion’s. Last time he checked on Blue he found armour plates missing and scorch marks across her back. He had been heartbroken to think that Lance had had to endure constant battles with no way to fix his beloved lion. He entered to find that, like Red, this lion was also missing. Alarm bells started ringing in his mind as he turned and raced for the main control panel. Stay calm, he thought, Keith and Lance are probably just training together, they definitely haven’t run off. Breathlessly, he scanned the surrounding air space and found it empty, he scanned it again just to make sure but there was nothing. The Altean carded his hand through his hair roughly, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed a flashing light coming from the portal control panel. Cautiously he opened the notification.  
“Unauthorised Portal Opened at 0200 vargas. Destination Algao System, in Quadrant-”  
Coran muted the computer before it could continue. He chewed his lip in frustration, they should have known that Lance and Emrys would leave anyway but Keith going with them was unexpected. They were mere vargas away from Zarkon and they were down two lions, they need to get the rogue pilots back. Coran went to push the alarm to call the others, but he hesitated. He agreed with Lance that they should help the prisoners, but it was his duty to serve the princess, but then again without being able to form Voltron Allura might be persuaded to wait or even help free Algao. Coran moved back to the portal control panel and tapped a few symbols on the portal log. 

The computer spoke again, “Do you wish to permanently delete this log?”

Coran twirled his moustache again in hesitation before tapping ‘Yes’.

“Log deleted”

Coran sighed, how was he going to explain the paladin’s disappearance to the princess.

~~~

“What do you mean they are gone”, Allura shouted

“They’re lions are gone, Princess and there’s no sign of them anywhere around us.”

Allura glared at the redheaded man, even though she knew it wasn’t his fault, “What about portal logs they couldn’t have gotten far without one.”

Coran stepped past her pulling up the logs, “You can check for yourself, there’s nothing here.”

Allura growled and slammed her hand on the console. 

“What’s going on?”

Allura turned to find Shiro standing dressed for battle, arms crossed, the younger paladins trailing behind him still strapping their amour on.

Coran spoke for her, “Lance and Emrys have taken the blue lion and disappeared.”

Pidge rolled her eyes, “I’m not surprised.”

Coran continued, “Keith and the red lion have left with them.”

“WHAT?” Hunk and Pidge exclaimed in unison. 

Shiro, however, looked unsurprise and if anything, proud, which unfortunately, Allura noticed.

Shoving a finger in his face she spoke in a low tone, “Don’t tell me you knew about this and didn’t stop them.” 

Shiro didn’t flinch. “I suspected they would,” he said calmly causing the princess to turn and throw her hands up in frustration. He continued, “It’s what we should have done, it’s what we should do now it’s not too late.”

At that Allura froze, “We stay the course, we will destroy Zarkon with or without the Blue and Red lions.”

The paladins yelled in protest, “We can’t form Voltron-we’ll be defeated in seconds-you can’t be serious!”

Allura spun to face them, “I’m completely serious, I will not allow another planet be wiped out by the Galra, I will not allow for more blood to fall on my hands,” she shouted before calming herself, “So prepare yourself we will reach the co-ordinates in 6 vargas.”

~~~

The blue and red lion cruised through space, twisting around each other. They had been travelling for almost 7 vargas now, deciding it would be safer to open a portal to the outside of the system to avoid alerting the Galra. Lance glanced behind the pilot chair, making sure Emrys was still sleeping soundly. She had practically collapsed after opening the portal, forcing the two paladins to carry her on to Blue and she had slept since then. Lance was slightly worried, but he knew she would make it, they had both endured far worse then simple exhaustion. Keith and Lance barely spoke as they flew keeping visuals of each other on their console and only calling out if a piece of debris was heading the others way, but as they got closer to their destination the silence began to weigh on Lance. Another varga slipped by before the blue paladin couldn’t take it anymore.

“Why did you agree to come?” he blurted out, causing Keith to start. Lance cringed and began again in a softer voice, “I mean why did choose to go against Allura and Shiro especially after what you saw us do?”  
The blue paladin watched Keith chew his lip in the monitor, trusting Blue to steer herself. 

After a few doboshes Keith spoke, “When I was young, I never really had anyone, my mother left before I could speak, and my father died a few years later. If it wasn’t for Shiro I would have never made it to the garrison and so when we left earth I wasn’t upset, I wasn’t leaving anyone behind. I guess I was harsh on you and Hunk at first, I couldn’t understand being homesick for Earth but when we all really bonded and truly became a team, I realised I had a family I couldn’t bear to lose. And then it happened, we lost you and I went almost crazy. I spent every moment I could searching or training myself to the point of collapsing. I finally understood why you so desperately wanted to go back to Cuba, because I too so desperately wanted you back.”

Keith glanced at the monitor, the blue paladin was gazing at the passing stars as he listened a faint dusting of pink across his cheeks. 

“And then as if by fate we found you, but you weren’t you anymore and I at first thought it was Emrys’ fault, that she had forced you to become this, this battle scarred warrior but I realised that no, she was the one who helped you through everything and through the war that I dragged you guys into.” 

“Keith you didn’t-”

“If we hadn’t found the blue lion, If I hadn’t gone searching for it-”

“Then thousands if not millions of people would be dead cause Voltron never saved them. We needed to be here,” Lance said softly.

Keith nodded reluctantly and continued, “I admit I was shocked and horrified to see you kill and torture with ease, but the more I thought about it the more what you said made sense. We don’t really have a choice in this war, either we do the dirty work or someone else dies and that’s not fair. It was the right decision for Emrys to not allow me to stop you guys.” 

Keith paused again, “I’m- I’m glad that you two found each other, you really make a good team.”

Lance smiled fondly, “Yeah we do, but we’ll both be happier once we get her girlfriend back.”

“Girlfriend? I thought that you two were, you know.”

Lance burst out in laughter, while Keith looked on in confusion. 

“But I saw you two sleeping together in your room?”

The blue paladin calmed down before speaking, “We both get nightmares when we sleep by ourselves but we’re not dating.”

“Oh.” Keith said his face heating up, “That’s uh good then.”

They settle back into a more comfortable silence for a few more doboshes, watching as they approached the edge of Algao’s moon. 

“You still didn’t answer my question, why do you come with us.”

“I guess I came with you because I couldn’t lose you again.” Keith muttered quietly.

Lance smiled, “You know mullet I missed everyone while I was gone but I think I missed you most of all.”

Keith stared in shock at the blue paladin, butterflies erupting in his stomach. 

“Lance I-”

“WATCH OUT”, Emrys shouted causing Lance to jerk Blue up, narrowly avoiding the Galra laser beam. 

The two lions rounded the moon and came face to face with an already raging battle. 

“Well there goes the element of surprise,” Lance muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back with another chapter. We'll really be getting into the main action over the next few chapters so stay tuned. See you next update :)


	10. Chapter Ten

Romelle breathed deeply as she lay warming herself in the sun. The grass was tickling her cheeks as the soft breeze blew around her. Her eyes fluttered open as she heard a distant voice calling for her. Sitting up she squinted, focusing on the figure in the running towards her. Romelle had barely stood up fully when the other girl crashed into her, knocking her back down. They both burst out in giggles as they lay together on the ground. 

The brunette Altean pushed herself up to look at Romelle, “Hey sweetheart, miss me?”

“You know I did, Em.”

Romelle closed the gap between them, touching their lips together in a chaste kiss but Emrys deepened it. The blonde gasped but returned in kind, running her hands up the others body before tangling them in her hair. They kissed till they ran out of breath, breaking apart, lovestruck smiles on both their faces. Emrys rolled to the side, collapsing beside her girlfriend, their hands clasped together. 

“How was training?”

Emrys sighed, “Same as always, grandfather is always so tough on me sometimes it seems like he doesn’t even care.”

Romelle squeezed her hand, “Trust me he does, he just wants you to be safe in case the Galra come back.”

“I know but I miss my parents too, and all this training won’t bring them back. I-I just want him to treat me like his grandkid not just another solider.”

The blonde pushed herself up with an elbow to face her partner, gently tucking Emrys’ hair behind her ear, “He’ll open up again soon I’m sure of it, just be easy on him too ok?”

Emrys smiled and leaned forward but an explosion that shook the ground split them apart. They scrambled to their feet, eyes snapping toward the village siting just above the skyline. They watched as a smoke cloud bloomed over the houses, flames flickered to life and faint screams reached the pairs ears. They watched in horror as Galra ships descended from the clouds, purple beams scorching the ground. 

Emrys grabbed Romelle’s shoulders, “Stay here. Whatever you do, don’t go into the village,” she glanced at the flames fear in her eyes, “I’ll be back soon, ok?”

The brunette took off running, the other girl hesitated before following close on her girlfriends’ heels.

When they reached the outskirts of the city, they froze, the full force of the screams hitting them. Emrys frowned when she realised that her partner had followed her, but she knew that no amount of bargaining would persuade her to stay behind. Grabbing her hand Emrys led them though the town to the armoury, she passed two pistols to Romelle and grabbed dual swords for herself. A crash sounded behind them as a Galra soldiers kicked down the door.

“Run Romelle, I meet you outside!”

The blonde disappeared out the back as Emrys stepped into a fighting stance. The first Galra came at her, she dodged the first strike slipping underneath the droid slicing her swords through its legs, sparks flying as it collapsed. The next two rushed her one on each side, bracing herself she flipped backwards decapitating them both. The final foot solider approached slowly circling her before striking a quick as a snake, catching her shoulder. She felt warm blood gush down her arm. Cursing, she blocked the next two strikes before an opening finally presented itself. Her sword plunged through the droid’s chest, its eyes flicked before it collapsed like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

Darting outside she caught a glimpse of familiar blonde hair as it disappeared behind the town hall. Emrys ran after her, destroying bots as she went. Skidding ‘round the corner she watched in terror as Romelle was captured by two officers, her weapons discarded and she was dragged roughly up the ramp of a Galra fighter ship. Emrys shouted out her girlfriend’s name, charging forwards save her, but she was too late. The ship took off with a blast, throwing Emrys backwards. Dozens of ships followed, disappearing back into the clouds they came from. The brunette collapsed, hot tears running down her face.

A young woman came running up, eyes frantic, “Emrys! Emrys, come quick, it’s your grandfather,” she said dragging the distraught teen to her feet.

Numb, she allowed her self to be led through the town, back to her family home, and into the small kitchen where her last living relative lay, sharp breaths escaping from his mouth. 

Kneeling beside him, she took his hand and squeezed it feebly.

“I’m sorry my child, but you must be strong now.”

Emrys nodded, struggling to hold back more tears. 

Her grandfathers’ eyes flicked weakly around the room, “Where’s is Romelle?”

“They took her grandpa, she’s gone”, she replied voice barely above a whisper. 

With his last remaining strength, he spoke, “Then you better go get her back.”

The flood gates broke, burning tears streaked down her face, turning at red and blotchy. She cried and cried until the tears dried up, until she felt hollow, until she could stay on that planet no longer. 

~~~ 

It was pure chaos, that was the only way Keith could describe the battlefield in front of them. There were hundreds of ships twisting around   
as if in some sort sinister dance.

“Who are all these people?”, Lance shouted dodging more laser beams that were meant for someone else.

Keith shook his head in confusion, “I don’t know but let’s lend them a hand.”

He shot Red forward her claws extending and ripping two galra fighters apart like paper. The red lion began firing on another four enemy ships taking them out with ease, before continuing into the fray. 

Lance and Emrys shared a look.

“You did say he was a hothead.” Emrys said with a slight smirk.

Lance smiled fondly, “Yeah he is.” And he pushed Blue forward as well, freezing the ships before destroying them with a beam of energy. 

Together Lance and Keith fought like a well-oiled machine, providing cover and performing intricate manoeuvres with ease. After less than a varga of fighting the tide seemed to be turning in their favour until there were no Galra fighter ships left. Lance and Keith took a moment to rest, their lions back to back just above the planet. 

Slowly they were surrounded by a mix of the grey boxy ships and black angular ships, their weapons armed and ready to fire on the paladins. 

“What the hell,” Keith spat, “We were helping them!”

“Yeah but we don’t really know who they are that we helped.” Lance replied.

The blue paladin watched as the ships appeared to charge their weapons, his grip on the controls tightening.   
Suddenly their weapons powered down and one by one they split off, heading towards the planets base of operations. 

Lance glanced upwards at Emrys, who stood clinging on to the pilot’s chair, “Should we follow them?”

The woman clenched her teeth, “Yes, I’m not leaving without Romelle.”

Keith nodded in the monitor, “Then let’s go.”

Together their lions began a nose dive, flames burning around them as they dropped through the atmosphere. They landed a small distance from the others ships, and quickly exited their lions, who promptly raised their forcefields. Cautiously they moved towards the nearby figures, a huge variety of different aliens all in green and orange uniforms had exited from the grey ships while a group of tall people, all in purple uniforms had exited the black ships. The three teens stopped a few meters back from the group, all of which had their weapons ready but not raised. 

Before Lance could even call out a greeting a tall person in the purple uniform pushed through the crowd and approached them, his mask disappeared into the hood, revealing a Galra and Keith gasped. 

“It’s you, from Benoxus.” He said. 

“Yes, Krolia-son.”

Lance frowned, “You know this guy Keith?”

“No not really he saved my life when we freed the Benoxi, but he has the same knife as me.”, Keith replied drawing said knife.

The Galra man stepped forward unsheathing his knife as well which grew into a sword, behind him all the people clad in purple did the same.

“Who are you?” Keith asked in awe.

“My name is Tora, and I’m part of the Blade of Marmora but now is not the time child we have work to do.”

Addressing the gathered group, he spoke again, “This is a historic moment for the Resistance and the Blade of Marmora to work together for a common cause. We all have individuals of importance within this prison whether they are family or have information, and we will not return until they are all released. We are strong united,” he paused glancing at the three teens beside him, who looked grim gripping their weapons, “and we have been joined by the blue warriors and the red paladin of Voltron to aid our fight.” 

Murmurs erupted amongst the crowd but silenced quickly when Tora spoke again, “You all know your assignments, now let’s go.” 

Tora turned to the other Blades and shouted, “Knowledge or Death.” The others echoing the statement before moving out. 

A tall feline looking individual faced the resistance and called for them to depart as well.

Tora beckoned to the teens, “You will join my team, come quickly and put your helmet visors up we should encounter little resistance but it’s better to be safe.”

Nodding the paladins and Altean activated their helmets and jogged after the tall Galra, following him into the base. The emergency lighting flickered weakly, the only noise their footsteps echoing on the polished floors. Keith felt a sense of déjà vu as they cleared the hallways similarly to how Lance and Emrys did not that long ago. He would have to ask them where they learnt that. Shaking his head, he continued after the group, knuckles white on his bayard. He wasn’t used to these stealth missions, especially with so much on the line.   
Glancing at Emrys and Lance, he could tell that while they hide it better, they too were anxious, nearly a deca-phoeb long search for Romelle could be over soon for better or for worse. 

The doboshes ticked by with no sign of adversaries, each door took little time to bypass until they stood in front of the prison cells’ final door. It clicked open and the group made to enter but Tora threw his hand up to stop them. Grabbing a his knife, he threw it through the door way, instantly it was hit by over a dozen laser beams. Lance grimaced, so it was a trap he thought. Tora signalled for them to move away and spoke quietly, “We need to enter via air vents and take them down from there. Snipers only step forward and I’ll give you your new assignments.” 

Lance went to follow the Blade leader but Emrys stopped him. 

“What are you doing Em.”

She hesitated, “It will be dangerous, I can’t risk losing you too.”

Lance gently lifted her hand off his shoulder, “Don’t worry I’ll be back soon, ok?.”

Keith stepped up next to Emrys as they watched Lance and five others crawl into the near by air vent, the sounds of their journey becoming quieter and quieter. The red paladin went to console Emrys, but he stopped, his hand hovering over her shoulder, unsure if he was the right person for this before he finally committed. 

“He’ll be fine Emrys, trust me there’s no better sharpshooter than Lance.”

She smiled weakly at Keith, “You’re right, of course you’re right.”

She turned quickly and gave the dark-haired man a firm hug, who returned it after a second of shock. They split apart after only a tick, but both felt the tension between them slip away. 

The loud blasts of gunfire had them both snapping their heads to the cell door, the muffled shouts making them more and more anxious until finally the door was opened, and Lance stepped through confirming it was clear. The group progressed, the blue paladin falling instep with his two friends, both of which clapped him on the shoulder in greeting. They reached the first cell, an assortment of green skinned humanoids sat trembling in fear but cheered when the door was opened and they were freed. Walking down the rows they unlocked each cell, Emrys’ hope dwindling with each group that was missing her girlfriend. They unlocked the final cell to find only one individual inside. Lance watched his companion hold back her tears, as she stumbled over her question, asking desperately if there were any other prison cells. 

The alien shook their head sadly, “There are no others, but a group of high-level captives were taken by the general to his ship before you arrived. They are as good as gone.”

“Describe them now.” Tora said cutting of the Altean’s next question.

The alien paused for a tick, “There were two Olkari, a tall galra woman with dark purple facial markings and a girl with blue marks under her eyes and blonde hair.”

“Romelle,” Emrys gasped in relief. “Which way did they go?”

Emrys and Tora rushed down the path the alien pointed at, Keith and Lance hot on their heels. 

Their footsteps and harsh breaths echoed around them as they raced toward the southern ship hanger. 

Muffled screams become louder as they ran until they burst through the hanger door. They found the two Olkari had already been forced onto the ship but the Galra woman was resisting, at least a dozen droids attempting to keep her contained. Emrys’ eyes darted to Romelle, who was struggling in the officers rough grip as the portly man dragged her up the ship ramp.

Clutching her swords Emrys charged. To her right, she watched as two droids were shot down by blue lasers and a glance to her left confirmed both Keith and Tora were beside her. The two men broke off to deal with the soldiers surrounding the Galra woman while the Altean heading straight for her girlfriend. The officer’s eyes widened in fear as shouted desperately for help. Another group of droids exited the ship blocking her path, growling she launched herself at the first of them, slicing clean through its chest. In a blur of flashing swords and sparking wires Emrys made quick work of her adversaries. Kicking the last of them off her sword she turned to face the trembling officer. He drew a pistol and pushed it firmly against the blonde’s head.

“Not another step or I kill her.”

Emrys froze, her heart rate skyrocketing. 

The officer smirked, and started backing further up the ramp, “Now we are leaving, and nobody follow us.”  
Before he could take another step, a blast rang out from behind Emrys and the Galra jerked backwards, slumping on the floor.   
The Altean glanced behind her to see Lance lowering a still smoking sniper rifle, he made a small shooing gesture and Emrys nodded in thanks. She stepped forward, but Romelle backed up in fear. 

“Who are you, show me your face.”

Emrys grabbed her helmet and through it to the side causing Romelle to gasp in surprise. 

“Is it really you, Emrys?”

Tears began to form as the brunette responded with a watery chuckle, “I finally found you.”

Romelle launched herself into her girlfriends’ arms, sobbing in relief. They collapsed together, tears streaking down their faces, clutching at each other as if they could disappear at any second. 

“I’m so sorry it took so long, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok you’re here now.”

“Did they hurt you?”

“A little but not much, they were planning on using me for bait, for someone named Allura I think?”

Emrys pulled back to look at Romelle, “I’m glad you are ok sweetheart.”

Romelle pulled her into a soft kiss, the world melting away as they were finally reunited. 

An awkward cough caused them to separate, Emrys turning to see a smug looking Lance, and a very uncomfortable looking Keith. She grinned sheepishly at them, then she offered a hand to Romelle helping her back onto her feet. Hand in hand they joined the two paladins.

“Romelle this is Keith, he pilots the red lion of Voltron.”

Romelle gasped, “Voltron? I thought that was all a story.”

“It’s real babe.”

The blonde stared at Keith awe, Keith offered an uncomfortable wave and smile in return.

“and this is Lance, he is the blue lion’s pilot. He’s been helping me search for you for the past deca-phoeb. I would never have found you without him.”

Romelle dragged Lance into a firm hug, which Lance happily returned. 

“Thank you for looking after her.”

“Trust me she didn’t need my help,” he said with a laugh, “I’m glad you’re safe, your girlfriend has told me a lot about you.” 

Romelle released him, her face red, “All good things I hope.”

“Of course.”

Tora and the Galra woman joined the group, Keith frowned when he looked at the woman. 

“Have we met before? You look really familiar.” He asked.

She glanced at Tora who nodded, and she spoke, “My name is Krolia, I’m your mother Keith.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a huge one, nearly 3 times the size of any other. Hope you all enjoyed and see you soon :).


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